- Life is messy and there are far too many stupid people. (See "A Solid Flu Vaccine: A Scientist Looks Back On The Day Trump Came Up With A Cure For The Coronavirus," "Evangelical Christians Are Linking LGBTQ People To The Coronavirus Now," and "Got A Medical Question? Ask Dr. Trump!").
- Some of the new threats confronting the human race are partially due to climate change (the recent melting of glaciers may have released previously dormant viruses along with megatons of methane).
- Closer contact with wild animals bearing dangerous viruses is partially due to those animals seeking food in areas where their natural habitats have been compromised by human population growth.
- COVID-19 may be the first and fastest-growing pandemic to spread in an age of social media that can simultaneously disrupt the global economy.
Unfortunately, this is not our first time at the rodeo. Those of us who survived the HIV epidemic remember how, in the early 1980s, a handful of cases labeled Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID) was clearly identified as impacting a demographic scorned by conservatives. The Reagan White House and mainstream media worked hard to ignore AIDS until the disease became the dinner guest that adamantly refused to leave.
While the spread of HIV made it clear that every living person offers an equal opportunity for death to strike, it wasn't until groups like ACT-UP started staging "die-in" demonstrations that the media was forced to pay closer attention to the crisis at hand. As a new approach to managed care became the hottest innovation in the medical field, people began to understand how the insurance industry's distinctions between a PPO and an HMO (coupled with the nation's rising income inequality) could be a divisive force in the public health arena. In today's marketplace, the socioeconomic impact of income inequality has grown to resemble the difference between a concierge plan and universal healthcare.
If you're one of those pearl clutchers who, ten years ago, thought Congressman Alan Grayson lacked subtlety and proper etiquette, it's time for a brutal reality check from The Rude Pundit.
"One reason Republicans reacted so savagely to Barack Obama was that he was making people trust the government again, that he was making things safe for expanded government programs. The shit-themselves panic they went into over the Affordable Care Act wasn't because of fear of a Commie takeover of health care, it was because they knew it would likely work. They knew that if they didn't try to tear it apart, it would prove that federal government programs can make life better, and, holy fuckballs, that would shred a generation of conservative arguments. Like Katrina and the financial crisis, it takes a catastrophe or the possibility of a catastrophe to reveal how pathetically empty the conservative approach to the federal government is. And, with President Whiner McRageface in charge, the gutting of the federal government has gotten to a point that has put us in this utterly precarious, outright dangerous position with the rise of this strain of the coronavirus, COVID-19."
"As the number of cases and the number of deaths rise, as Trump displays his brand of breathtakingly confident stupidity, the nation is getting a simple lesson: We need a fucking strong federal government precisely for shit like this instead of the toxic soup of incompetence, cruelty, and narcissism that's running things now. And there's a related lesson: this is why you have health care freely available to everyone. Every-fucking-one. Otherwise, you have a bunch of sick people in your country who aren't getting treated because they can't afford it or are afraid some depraved fuck is going to have them deported. A country might get away with that cruelty when it's just regular ol' flu, but when shit gets real and you don't have that infrastructure even close to in place? You might just get fucked by some new disease."
So many politicians like to cloak themselves in willful ignorance and religious mythology that (especially with Passover beginning on April 8th) revisiting Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 version of The Ten Commandments can offer a refreshingly blunt visual reminder of what the future might have in store.
The messiness of income inequality holds center stage in two current productions by local theatre companies. Both are set within cultures that have distinct socioeconomic boundaries. Both focus on people whose determination to rise above their circumstances necessitates taking huge risks. In one, a carefully planned string of deaths becomes a viable business plan. In the other, no good deed goes unpunished.
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Golden Thread Productions and Crowded Fire Theater have joined forces to co-produce the U.S. Premiere of On the Periphery, a timely drama by Sedef Ecer that has been translated by Evren Odcikin and directed by Erin Gilley. Focused on the lives of social outcasts living in Istanbul’s urban slums who yearn for a better future, the play mirrors the displacement, migration, and gentrification that has impacted the demographics of the Bay Area as well as the vulnerability of people who place their hopes for a better life in the hands of the most unlikely agents of change. |
| Tamar (Leila Rosa) gets a life-changing phone call from Sultane (Ayla Yarkut) in a scene from On The Periphery (Photo by: David Allen) |
The play begins as Tamar (Leila Rosa) and Azad (Zaya Kolia) are trying to get better reception on their television in order to watch Tamar's favorite program, a talk show led by Sultane (Ayla Yarkut), an Oprah-like cultural hero who frequently responds to letters she receives from viewers and tries to grant them their wish. Azad can't believe that people with such an incredible opportunity would ask for such mundane things as a dishwasher when life has so much more to offer. Tamar dreams of visiting the Paris she has seen in movies, which is rumored to be a magical city where all women say "Ooh-la-la!"
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| Olivia Rosaldo-Pratt (Kibele) and Sofia Ahmad (Dilsha) form an unusual bond in On The Periphery (Photo by: David Allen) |
The intimacy between the two young Turks comes from a troubled backstory in which their mothers (one a Turk, the other a gypsy) became close friends. Due to the side effects of living near a "trash mountain" and being raised in the shadow of a factory whose pollutants may have caused many local ?? to be born without a navel, Tamar and Azad have always lived on the periphery of metropolitan Istanbul (a status which has always made them feel "less than" those living within the city limits). While Azad's parents, Bilo (Lijesh Krishnan) and Dilsha (Sofia Ahmad), were among the first rural migrants to built shacks near the trash mountain, Tamar's mother, Kibele (Olivia Rosaldo-Pratt), was a Romani woman who became a single mother.
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| Olivia Rosaldo-Pratt (Kibele), Sofia Ahmad (Dilsha), and Lijesh Krishnan (Bilo) in a scene from On The Periphery (Photo by: David Allen) |
Because land was cheap, the factory erected near their neighborhood transformed the area into a company town and eventually drew real estate developers. Eviction notices were met with protests by the resident community, which proved futile (Bilo died after being run over by a tractor). Years later, as Tamar and Azad squabble over how to find happiness, he decides to take a huge risk by trying to flee to the West. Though he has promised to send for Tamar after he finds work in Paris, her fears for his safety prompt Tamar to write to Sultane asking for her help.
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| Zaya Kolia (Azad) attempts to find a better life in Paris in a scene from On The Periphery (Photo by: David Allen) |
When Sultane responds, all Tamar can think to ask for is a better television set. However, Sultane's staff has done extensive research on Tamar's situation and gives her the gift she needs much more than a new TV. Unfortunately, once Tamar is reunited with Azad in Paris, there is no guarantee of a happy ending. As the Founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, Torange Yeghiazarian, explains in her program note:
"During the 1980s, Turkey experienced a major surge of rural migrants to cities, causing rapid expansion of informal areas in urban settlements. Many cities were unable to accommodate this growth, and the influx of migrants took place so quickly that these informal settlements became known as gecekondu (literally 'houses erected overnight'). Estimates of informal housing in major cities during that period ranged between 30-60% of all urban housing stock. In 1998, the government legalized irregular housing. Whatever the motivation may have been, the prevailing attitude of the Turkish government tacitly accepted by the public at the time was the notion that all Turks have a right to some form of basic housing. The amnesties gave residents either outright legal title to the land or the right to occupy it without fear of eviction."
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| Olivia Rosaldo-Pratt (Kibele) and Sofia Ahmad (Dilsha) in a scene from On The Periphery (Photo by: David Allen) |
"As witnessed in other developing countries, with security of tenure, residents of informal areas began to invest in their housing (in some cases adding rooms that were subsequently rented to new migrants). Turkey was in a fortunate position to take such measures because the vast majority of land on which the informal settlements took shape was public land. Despite connotations of urban poverty and overcrowding, almost all gecekondu neighborhoods were supplied with running water and electricity. According to the United Nations, by 2050, 68% of the world population will live in urban areas and many countries will face challenges in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations for housing, transportation, energy systems, and other infrastructure (as well as for employment and basic services such as education and health care)."
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| Ayla Yarkut portrays a popular television star named Sultane in On The Periphery (Photo by: David Allen) |
With rampant homelessness and xenophobia at crisis levels in major cities (and millions of refugees from climate change expected to add to population woes during the next three decades), On The Periphery clings to the hope that dreams for a better life can be realized by those living at the poverty level. However, from the slums of Manila to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, such dreams remain an unlikely outcome.
I recently had a curious conversation with a depressed Millennial who complained about the hardships of earning a six-figure salary without being able to save any money. As he shared the details of his predicament, I found it difficult to sympathize with what are essentially "First World problems" -- especially after having seen the brutal reality of Azad's new life in Paris (taking Tamar back to where he has been squatting in an abandoned building after the television studio's rented limousine drops them off).
Sensitively directed by Erin Gilley, this co-production benefits from the dilapidated-looking unit set by designed by Kate Boyd, costumes by Maggie Whitaker, projections by Nima Dehghani, lighting by Cassie Barnes, and sound design by James Ard. Though the six actors put human faces on Sedef Ecer's fable, the audience is left with a clear understanding that the playwright's characters have little control over their circumstances or their future.
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| Olivia Rosaldo-Pratt (Kibele), Sofia Ahmad (Dilsha), and Lijesh Krishnan (Bilo) in a scene from On The Periphery (Photo by: David Allen) |
Performances of On The Periphery continue through April 4 at Potrero Stage (click here for tickets). Here's the trailer:
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Over at the Gateway Theatre, San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon is currently presenting A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. Directed by Daren A.C. Carollo (with choreography by Christina Lazo), this production rests on an intricate, puzzle-like set designed by Mark Mendelson. Having earned four Tony Awards in 2014, AGGLM is such a sweet and brilliantly-crafted piece of musical theatre that one can easily imagine it being blessed with the theatrical genius of Gilbert and Sullivan, Stephen Sondheim, and Charles Ludlam (whose collective artistic fingerprints are all over the piece). | ||
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Based on Roy Horniman's 1907 novel, Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal (which was also the source for the beloved 1949 British film, Kind Hearts and Coronets), AGGLM is a dandy -- and delectably daffy -- period piece which provides a skilled actor with an opportunity to portray nine members of the same family in a hilarious tour de force while another portrays the handsome young man determined to kill them all in order to inherit a family fortune.
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| Kevin Singer stars as Montague Navarro in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
Shows demanding multiple quick character and costume changes for a key performer (Greater Tuna, The Mystery of Irma Vep) are usually staged on a fairly intimate scale. Set in London in 1909, AGGLM boasts a droll book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman with music and additional lyrics by Steven Lutvak. The show offers audiences a smart and sassy evening of musical comedy bedecked in period costumes designed by Rebecca Valentino.
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| Matt Hammons, Amanda Johnson, and Hayley Lovgren in a scene from A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
The women in AGGLM are primarily supporting characters in Montague Navarro's escapades, with Teressa Foss appearing as Miss Shingle, Christine Capsuto-Shulman as Monty's lusty girlfriend (Sibella Hallward), Amanda Johnson as Miss Barley, Lee Ann Payne as Lady Eugenia, and Melissa WolfKlain as Phoebe D'Ysquith. The evening remains squarely focused on Kevin Singer's devilishly appealing portrayal of the social-climbing Navarro and the delirious appearances of Matt Hammons as (in no particular order):
- Lord Asquith D'Ysquith, Sr.
- Asquith D'Ysquith, Jr.
- Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith.
- Reverend Lord Ezekial D'Ysquith.
- Henry D'Ysquith.
- Lady Hyacinth D'Ysquith.
- Major Lord Bartholomew D'Ysquith.
- Lady Salome D'Ysquith Pumphrey, and
- Chauncey D'Ysquith.
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| Matt Hammons appears as various members of the D'Ysquith family in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
Others in the ensemble include Noel Anthony, Sean Fenton, Nicole Helfer, Hayley Lovgren, and Nick Nakashima (who appear in multiple roles while obviously having a great deal of fun onstage). Among the more riotous scenes are Monty's attempt to kill someone who is ice skating in a winter wonderland, an ode to the perverse appeal of a lusty Brotherhood of Man, and a deathly dinner party in which Monty's plans go riotously awry. Lutvak's mischievous score includes such delightful musical numbers as "Poison In My Pocket," "Better With A Man," "Lady Hyacinth Abroad," "That Horrible Woman," and "I Don't Understand The Poor."
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| Kevin Singer (Montague Navarro) and Christine Capsuto-Shulman (Sibella Hallward) in a scene from A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
Often, when one sees a murder mystery onstage for the first time, the pacing of the show -- as well as any questions about how various characters will be dispatched -- brings a certain level of suspense to the experience. Upon repeat viewings, however, there is less surprise. For some, the result is a tendency to pay greater attention to the mechanics of the staging. Though the musical direction by Daniel Thomas was rock solid, there was one small problem on opening night which I'm sure will disappear in subsequent performances. Act I seemed surprisingly low on energy, which made it difficult to hear some of Monty's tongue-twisting musical numbers. It may be that Singer was pacing himself carefully (his performance gained strength in the second act).
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| Kevin Singer (Montague Navarro) and Melissa WolfKlain (Phoebe D'Ysquith) in a scene from A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studio) |
Performances of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder continue through March 15 at the Gateway Theatre (click here to order tickets). Here's the trailer:
Polition and actor know what they want its difficult to know who is good but at the end all are same
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